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Last in a three-part series analyzing the Patriots’ season:

When Patriots coach Bill Belichick looked back at the 2010 season and ahead to 2011, it was likely apparent to him that his team needed to improve significantly in two areas: getting to the quarterback and getting off the field on third down, especially in long-yardage situations.

The Patriots had 36 sacks in 17 games in 2010. According to the Globe’s game charting, they knocked down the quarterback an additional 58 times. That’s 94 times the quarterback hit the turf, about 5.5 times per game.

In this pass-happy NFL, that likely wasn’t cutting it.

As far as third downs, the Patriots’ problems were well-documented. They finished 2010 last in total third-down defense (47.1 percent) and in third-down defense of more than 10 yards (31.5 percent).

So Belichick came up with a plan through scheme changes and player acquisitions.

In spite of that, the Patriots got better in both areas, which helped propel them to the Super Bowl.

In 19 games, they had 51 sacks and 83 knockdowns for a total of 134 times the opposing quarterback had to pick himself off the turf, an average of 7.1 per game. That was a significant improvement.

And on third down, the Patriots improved slightly overall (43.1 percent, 28th in the NFL), but dramatically on third downs of more than 10 yards (15.9 percent, 10th).

Where will Belichick look to improve heading into next season? That’s part of our trip through some of the significant numbers from the 2011 season, with figures provided by Stats LLC and our own game charting:

253 - Plays allowed of 10 or more yards, last in the league (average of 208). Patriots gave up 224 in 2010.

89 - Plays allowed of 20 or more yards, last in the league (average of 64). Patriots allowed 61 in 2010 to finish 21st.

72 - Completions for Tom Brady of 20 or more yards, which led the league (average of 52).

51.6 - Percentage of Brady’s passing yards that came after the catch, a league-leading average of 6.7 yards per completion, most under Belichick. In 2007, 42 percent of Brady’s passing yards came after the catch. Average yards per catch by receiver: BenJarvus Green-Ellis, 16.1 on nine receptions; Danny Woodhead, 7.9 on 18; Rob Gronkowski, 7.4 on 90; Aaron Hernandez, 6.8 on 79; Deion Branch, 6.7 on 51; Wes Welker, 6.2 on 122; Matthew Slater, 5.0 on one; Kevin Faulk, 4.9 on nine; Stevan Ridley, 4.9 on five; Chad Ochocinco, 3.4 on 15; Tiquan Underwood, 2.7 on three; Julian Edelman, 2.3 on four.

41 - Rushes allowed of more than 10 yards, after 32 in 2010.

29 - Rushes by the Patriots of more than 10 yards, a big step back from 39 in 2010. The Patriots had five rushes of 20 yards or more - all by Ridley - which was last in the league and down from nine in 2010.

51 - Sacks by the Patriots (28 in 2010). Here’s the breakdown, which may differ from official numbers because we give half credit to a player who causes a quarterback to run into a sack: 12-Mark Anderson; 10 1/2-Andre Carter; 10-Rob Ninkovich; 6-Vince Wilfork; 3-Brandon Deaderick; 2 1/2-Kyle Love; 2-Shaun Ellis; 1-Jerod Mayo, Brandon Spikes, Patrick Chung; half-sack-Gerard Warren, James Ihedigbo, Myron Pryor, Mike Wright.